The Empty Walls

Solas sat in his room in Skyhold, looking at the blank walls around him. He leaned against his desk, elbows rested upon the piece of wood that somehow still held all of his old documents from over two millennia ago. The elf concentrated on the blank canvases around...the lack of unused space was disturbing him. He knew that there was nothing underneath them, and knew that at the time, he had planned to paint a mural of his trials against the Evanuris on the walls, but now, considering that he was trying to hide his true identity from his comrades, Solas felt that painting such a thing would only raise questions about how he knew about such events to begin with. Especially Lavellan...what would she say if she saw it. He could already hear her voice in his head at the sight of the paintings.

"Who are you Solas? What are you? Do you not trust me enough to tell me that?" she would ask, tears streaming down her face and an angered tone in her voice. He felt his face wince simply at the thought of it.

The elf sighed as he leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his tea. Solas tried his best to keep the horrendous liquid in his throat. He had heard that a cup of tea at least once a day was good for the soul, but in all honesty he detested it more than anything, at least when it came to food. As he felt the strangely colored liquid slither down his throat, Solas lifted up the cup and looked at it distrustfully. Was this really the best way to keep one's health in check when there didn't seem to be anything else edible at the moment except tarts and pies?

Then the elf sighed in defeat and let the rest of the tea flow down his throat. His face curled into one of disgust as he set the cup on the desk fast enough that you would have thought that it was made out of poison. He then looked around the room once again, trying once more to think of something to put on the walls. As much as the elf tried, nothing seemed to come to mind...perhaps it was the rancid tea that was causing him not to think clearly. Or maybe it was...something else? The elf pondered over this, and wondered if it was because he had not been outside of his room in a few days. After all, he had been looking through his desk and trying to see what had survived his absence.

Then again, it could simply be the fact that his mind had been elsewhere lately...it had been harder for him to think after he had taken Lavellan to the Fade that one night and...

Solas shook his head and put his hands on his head as if he had just experienced an awful headache. No, that couldn't be why he couldn't think lately. Things like feelings and personal life didn't bother him, so why would his changing relationship with Lavellan be any different? It wasn't as if he hadn't cared for someone before...it had just been a while.

Solas tried again to look around the room. Perhaps he should ask Lavellan when she came back from Orlais. She was at a meeting with someone who could possibly help renew Skyhold to its former glory and clean the castle up a little and left approximately two days ago. No, not a good idea. She already had enough on her shoulders with trying to fix the other pieces of the castle and trying to prepare for the Masquerade at the Winter Palace without his silly decor problems.

The mage sighed in defeat as he stood up and folded his arms in frustration, looking around the room again. After a few moments longer, he decided it would be best if he just left his room and go out for some fresh air...that was until his stomach began to growl. Solas threw his arms around his stomach, trying to make it stop roaring. Then the pain started, making the elf quite uncomfortable. Now Solas knew there were only two reasons why his stomach would be hurting - the disgusting tea was not agreeing with him today or, the more logical reason, he was hungry. He hadn't eaten anything yet today, so Solas decided that the second option was what was wrong. Guess there was only one way to find out.